Packaging plays a key role in protecting merchandise during transportation, storage and installation. Processes and machines for creating packages, as well as processes and machines for applying the packages to the products, are becoming increasingly automated. Packing of small products produced at high volume often is accomplished using an automated packing process. The small size of these products, the high volume output of thousands of packaged products a day, and the substantial uniformity of these products' shapes, allow for relatively low cost automation of the packaging process.
Packaging of larger, more unique or dissimilar shaped products, typically requires more manual steps. A prime example of a lower volume manual packaging process is currently used in the furniture industry. Packaging is important to the furniture industry to avoid pulls, tears, or rips in the fabric or leather upholstery of a new item. Packaging similarly can help avoid dings or scratches in wood or other surfaces during shipping and delivery.
FIG. 1 shows a schematic of a furniture packaging line 10. FIG. 2 is a flow chart summarizing a representative packaging process. The packaging line 10 typically includes a series of conveyors 12 receiving finished furniture pieces 14-18 and conveying them along the packaging line to a shrink bag station 19. Unlike, a uniform process, furniture pieces 14-18 are relatively custom made and often manufactured after an order is received. Thus furniture pieces 14-18 are added to the packaging line 10 when completed. As shown in FIG. 1, the result is a series of successive furniture pieces 14-18 that vary significantly in size and shape. FIG. 1 shows a packaged upholstered chair 14, a dining chair 15, a sofa 16, an unpackaged stool 17 and a loveseat 18. Each furniture piece has a furniture length X generally parallel with the conveyor 12, a furniture width Y and a furniture height Z.
Along the packaging line 10 various packaging materials, such as cardboard trays 20, corner protectors, foam bags, etc. may be added to the furniture pieces 14-18 depending upon the construction and/or shape of each piece. To provide a final enclosure for each furniture piece 14-18, and any of the optional packaging materials that may have been added, the furniture piece 14-18 is inserted into a shrink bag 22 at the shrink bag station 19. Presently, shrink bags 22 are provided on continuous rolls 24, with perforations between each bag. Rolls 24 of shrink bags 22 are also arranged on one or more racks 26 allowing for access to several rolls, for example six distinct rolls. Each distinct roll 24 may have shrink bags 22 of different combinations of bag length and circumference. In a typical example, four bag lengths, each provided in two different circumferences, for a total of eight rolls is used. The shrink bags 22 coming off the roll 24 are substantially flat with a sealed end and an open end. In the flat configuration, the distance between the sealed end and the open end would be the bag length L (see FIG. 4). The side edges of the shrink bags 22 may or may not include gussets (i.e. additional folds of material) that allow the shrink bag 22 to have a larger internal volume. The circumference, is therefore equal to twice the width of the shrink bag 22 in the flat configuration plus any additional width provided by the gussets.
A packer 28, is tasked with identifying the next furniture piece (a recliner 15 as illustrated) coming down the packaging line 10, selecting a shrink bag 22 from an appropriate roll 24 that is sufficiently large to enclose that piece, and tearing the selected bag from its respective roll along the perforations. After the furniture piece 15 is slid into the selected shrink bag 22, the open end of the shrink bag is gathered and taped closed. The furniture piece 15 then travels through a shrink tunnel 30 where heat is applied, causing the shrink bag 22 to constrict. When the furniture piece 14-18 exits the shrink tunnel 30, the furniture piece is ready for loading into a truck for delivery to the warehouse, retailer or customer.